Easter Rising 1916: Sean Sexton Collection

Interesting exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery of work drawn from one photographic collection looking at the role of photography in the move to Irish Independence with the Easter Rising as a focal point.

It started with how photography was used to present an iconography of Ireland and to spread images of the evictions of the 1880s. It was interesting to see a picture of Captain Boycott, from who we take the word Boycott, who was a land agent in the evictions. I don’t think I’d ever seen a picture of him. It was also interesting to see there had been a market for images of nationalist leaders going back to the 1850s.

The Easter Rising itself was represented mainly by pictures of the aftermath due to the limitations of photography at the time. It’s interesting that these images were sold as postcards and the sense of how quickly people came out to look at the damage. Now the area is rebuilt it is strange to see pictures of what it looked like then.

I was rather intrigued by pictures of the Countess Martievicz, both as an aristocratic lady and as a gun toting activist! However she also trained at the Slade! I am off to look up more about her!

I had been looking for a good exhibition for the centenary of the Easter Rising and this worked well given it had come from just one collection. It managed to give both an idea of the history and of how photography fitted into this. I’d still like something more substantial but I’m guessing I might need to head to Ireland for that!

Closes on 3 April 2016.

Review
Telegraph

 

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